Are Reader's Digest Condensed Books Worth Anything? The Honest Answer

By Josh Eldred · New Mexico Literacy Project · May 31, 2026 · Last verified October 2026

No — and I say that as the person who probably takes more of them than anyone else in Albuquerque. Reader’s Digest Condensed Books have essentially no resale value, they are the single hardest category of book to give away, and that is exactly why people end up frustrated and a little guilty standing in front of a shelf of them. The guilt is misplaced and the frustration is solvable. This page explains plainly why they are worth nothing, why nobody will take them, and what to actually do with the lot so it is off your hands without going in the trash.

Fastest way to clear them: the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, a covered box outside the gate, by the road, takes whatever fits, any hour, any condition. Too much for the box? Come 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., when someone is there to help unload, or get on a free pickup route. Directions.

Why they are worth nothing

Two facts, together, explain the whole thing. First, they are condensed: that is the entire point of the series. Most volumes gathered five current best-sellers (a sizable minority had three, four or six) and abridged them, cutting each one down to a shorter, faster read. That makes them close to worthless to anyone who actually wants the book: a reader, a collector, or a library wants the complete, unabridged novel, not a shortened version, and the abridged text has no literary or collector value of its own. A condensed book is, by design, not the real book.

Second, they were everywhere. Reader’s Digest mailed Condensed Books to subscribers on a standing basis from 1950 until 1997, when the series was renamed Select Editions, and a 1987 New York Times estimate put sales at 10 million copies a year. They landed in millions of American homes, usually in matching sets that filled a shelf and looked, satisfyingly, like a library. Because they were a mass subscription product and because families kept them, they survive today in staggering numbers. High supply plus near-zero demand is the textbook recipe for no resale value, and that is precisely where these land.

Why nobody will take them

This is the part that surprises people. You would think a free, clean, hardcover book would be easy to donate, but Condensed Books get turned away almost everywhere, and for good reason from the receiver’s side. Used bookstores generally won’t buy them because they can’t resell them. Many thrift stores turn them away because they don’t move and they take up shelf space that could hold sellable goods. Public libraries routinely list them as not accepted: the Albuquerque and Bernalillo County library’s donation policy names Reader’s Digest condensed books alongside encyclopedias, textbooks and magazines, and some library donation drop boxes elsewhere post the same rule. So you are left holding a category of book that is simultaneously too nice to feel right throwing away and too unwanted for anyone to accept: the perfect frustrating object.

What to actually do with them

Repurpose the bindings, if you are crafty. The faux-leather and cloth bindings, with their gold-stamped spines, are genuinely attractive, and there is a small world of decor and craft uses for them: stacked as risers, grouped by color on a shelf for looks, or hollowed out for storage. If you enjoy that sort of thing, the better-looking volumes have a second life as objects even though the text inside is unwanted.

Recycle the rest. Condensed Books are ordinary book paper and board and can be recycled. Albuquerque’s curbside program lists books among its accepted materials, but local guidance is to take the hard cover and glued binding off first, which is tedious at volume and one more reason people would rather hand off the whole lot. My book recycling guide has the details.

Let me take them. This is exactly the problem I exist to solve in the Albuquerque metro. I take Reader’s Digest Condensed Books free, in any quantity, with no sorting, through the same free pickup and covered 24/7 drop box as everything else. I will be straight with you about what happens to them: there is essentially no resale or reading demand, so the great majority are responsibly paper-recycled rather than landfilled, and the occasional nice set goes to someone who wants them for decor. You do not have to feel bad about it, you do not have to separate covers, and you do not have to be the one to put them in the trash. They just leave. If the set is part of clearing a parent’s house, my guide to what to do with books after someone dies covers the rest of the shelves.

Frequently asked questions

Related on this site

• Are old textbooks worth anything? — the honest answer (it’s the edition), and why old textbooks make great donations.
• What To Do With Old Encyclopedias — the other great “nobody will take these” estate problem.
• Are Old National Geographics Worth Anything? — same honest answer for the magazine stacks.
• Is My Old Family Bible Worth Anything? — and the part of it that actually matters.
• Old Books Worth Money — what in your boxes does have value.
• Free Book & Media Pickup — Albuquerque — schedule a pickup for the whole load.